India's Gandhi vows to keep fighting after removal from parliament - CNA

NEW DELHI: Top Indian opposition figure Rahul Gandhi said Saturday (Mar 25) he would keep fighting for democracy after blaming his expulsion from parliament on his demands for a probe into a key business ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gandhi, 52, was stripped of his parliamentary seat on Friday, a day after he was convicted of defamation in Modi's home state of Gujarat for a 2019 campaign-trail remark seen as an insult to the premier.

Modi's government has been widely accused by political opponents and rights groups of using the law to target and silence critics, but Gandhi said he would not bow to intimidation.

"I will do whatever I have to do to defend the democratic nature of this country," he told reporters.

"They are used to everybody being scared of them," he said, in reference to the ruling party. "I am not scared of them."

The removal from parliament of Modi's chief opponent comes at a time when the prime minister's relationship with Gautam Adani, one of India's most powerful industrialists, has been under scrutiny.

Modi has been a close associate of Adani for decades but the latter's business empire has been subject of renewed attention this year after a US investment firm accused it of "brazen" corporate fraud.

Gandhi's opposition Congress party has for weeks demanded a proper investigation by parliament of the allegations.

"I have been disqualified because the prime minister ... is scared of the next speech that is going to come on Adani," Gandhi told reporters.

"I will continue to ask the question - what is the prime minister's relationship with Mr. Adani?"

Congress supporters held small protests in several cities around the country on Saturday to protest against Gandhi's removal as a lawmaker.

"DUE JUDICIAL PROCESS"

Gandhi is the leading face of Congress, once the dominant force of Indian politics but now a shadow of its former self.

He is the scion of India's most famous political dynasty and the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

But he has struggled to challenge the electoral juggernaut of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its nationalist appeals to the country's Hindu majority.

The lower house of parliament ruled him ineligible to continue sitting as an MP on Friday, a day after his conviction in the defamation case.

The prosecution stemmed from a remark made during the 2019 election campaign in which Gandhi had asked why "all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname".

His comments were seen as a slur against the prime minister, who went on to win the election in a landslide.

Members of the government also said the remark was a smear against all those sharing the Modi surname, which is associated with the lower rungs of India's traditional caste hierarchy.

Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Thursday but walked free on bail after his lawyers vowed to appeal.

A BJP spokesman said Thursday that the court acted with "due judicial process" in arriving at its judgement.

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2023-03-25 12:24:56Z
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Concerns grow in Malaysia over freedom of expression under Anwar government - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR – Concerns have been growing among civil society groups in Malaysia over freedom of expression since Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister four months ago. 

Despite spending decades campaigning on a reform platform, which included promises of greater civil liberties, he and the Pakatan Harapan coalition he leads have done little to change perceived oppressive laws that were long used by previous governments against their critics.

Members of Mr Anwar’s own coalition have previously been arrested or imprisoned under national security and sedition laws when they were in the opposition.

Incidents of public rallies being probed by the police, investigations over online criticism and calls by government politicians to use the colonial-era sedition laws have all continued under Mr Anwar’s administration since he came into power in November 2022. 

At the centre of these moves is his own pursuit of his political critics from the opposition Perikatan Nasional. Defamation lawsuits and criminal defamation reports have been filed against them, including opposition leader and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), a collective of lawyers pushing for civil liberties, said recently that using the police to protect Mr Anwar from criticism is “unlawful and despotic”.

“Has Anwar Ibrahim forgotten that during the Najib era, the then opposition Pakatan Harapan was at the receiving end of similar police investigations for criticism of then Prime Minister Najib (Razak)? Have Anwar and his political coalition learnt nothing from the persecution they were then subjected to?” LFL director Zaid Malek said in a statement.

The authorities have also pursued individuals who are behind online criticism directed at the government, as they mooted strengthening a controversial provision under the Communications and Multimedia Act to further regulate social media.

Individuals participating in a Women’s March rally earlier in March and a rally supporting Muhyiddin after he was briefly detained for corruption were also investigated by the authorities.

Government leaders have reiterated their commitment to civil liberties but have opted to prioritise economic challenges and political stability as their main agenda.

This is partly due to Mr Anwar leading a mixed coalition unity government, whose members include former rival Barisan Nasional (BN), which is led by Umno. It was BN that introduced and used many of the provisions limiting civil liberties.

Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, a vice-president in Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, said the Premier – who was jailed twice on sodomy and corruption charges that he maintains were politically motivated – remains committed to the cause, but reforms are a “staggered” process and will not be achieved overnight. 

“We have to go for institutional reforms first. We have to do things slowly and in a staggered manner, before we can go for certain symbols of freedom,” he told The Straits Times on Wednesday.

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2023-03-25 06:40:55Z
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New Zealand raises concerns with China on South China Sea, Taiwan - CNA

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Saturday (Mar 25) she had expressed concerns over the South China Sea and tensions in the Taiwan Strait during talks with her Chinese counterpart at the end of a visit to Beijing.

Mahuta also said in a statement she "noted New Zealand’s deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong", during her meeting with Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Qin Gang.

"Nanaia Mahuta expressed concerns over developments in the South China Sea and increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait," the foreign minister's statement said.

Mahuta said she reiterated New Zealand’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China is a key ally of Russia and both have criticised the US and NATO for undermining global stability.

Mahuta arrived in China on Wednesday for the four-day trip, the first by a New Zealand minister since 2019, and also met China's top diplomat Wang Yi as well as business and women leaders.

Wang told Mahuta that China and New Zealand had always respected and trusted each other, according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

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2023-03-25 02:19:00Z
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Rahul Gandhi, the 'prince' of Indian politics who lost his parliament seat - CNA

At the heart of his central role in opposition politics is the fact that his party has ruled India for 54 of its 75 years since independence from Britain, and his father, grandmother and great-grandfather were prime ministers for more than 37 of those 54 years.

Congress was the largest national political party with a footprint across the country of 1.4 billion people until it was overtaken by the BJP in 2014.

Although now a shadow of its former self, the Gandhi family - which includes Rahul's Italian-born mother and former party chief Sonia, and his sister Priyanka - still dominates Congress and commands fierce loyalty.

It is this potent lineage and legacy that Modi and his party seek to attack when they say dynastic politics has no role in a democracy, analysts say.

Even though Congress withered in 2019, winning less than 10 per cent of the 545 seats in the lower house, it commanded nearly 20 per cent of the vote - the largest for any opposition group - against the BJP's 38 per cent.

Congress is the ruling party, or the main opposition in about half a dozen important states.

NON-SERIOUS POLITICIAN?

Gandhi entered politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 from his family borough of Amethi in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh.

He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a shock setback in 2019 when he lost the seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the Kerala state and won there to return to parliament.

Gandhi's attendance in parliament has been far below the average. His frequent absences from the chamber, and the country, have been the focus of the media and drawn BJP accusations that he is a "non-serious" politician.

Outside parliament, he has often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, talking about the assassinations of his grandmother, then prime minister Indira Gandhi, and his former prime minister father, Rajiv Gandhi.

Of late, he has been stirring controversy with criticism of the BJP.

In Britain last month he said in a speech that democracy was in danger under Modi, angering the BJP whose members demanded an apology or said he should face exclusion from the chamber.

On Thursday, after his conviction, he simply posted on Twitter some words in Hindi from freedom movement leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who is not a relation.

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it. - Mahatma Gandhi".

Single at 52, Gandhi is known to be a fitness and martial arts enthusiast and has been seen cycling in New Delhi accompanied by security men.

His conviction and disqualification from parliament is now "make or break" for him, said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior visiting fellow at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research.

"Will he be able to make the argument that 'I am being targeted by a government that does not necessarily represent the interest of all Indians', or is he going to be seen as somebody who is not a capable politician and therefore has been outplayed by the BJP," Sircar told Reuters.

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2023-03-24 13:50:46Z
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TikTok ban will make US-China tensions 'even worse', analysts say - CNA

In December last year, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance admitted that ByteDance employees had inappropriately accessed the IP addresses of American users, including journalists writing critical stories about the company.

The Justice Department is investigating whether that amounted to improper surveillance of Americans.

China’s data security laws also state that it can demand data from its corporations, said Assoc Prof Chong. 

“Unless ByteDance and TikTok have some legal carve-out in the PRC, which is unlikely, they remain subject to those laws as well as those of any jurisdiction in which they operate,” he told CNA. 

“Left unresolved, this point is likely to be a major obstacle to the resolution of differences TikTok has with the US government.” 

Washington also has concerns about disinformation, propaganda and child safety on social media platforms, said Assoc Prof Chong, noting TikTok's claims of enhancing content moderation.

For its part, China has also removed access to the Twitter platform and ejected Google services and Facebook from its borders. 

What's happening with TikTok has some precedent and is “just the current round of contention over technology”, said Assoc Prof Chong. 

“In some respects, this tit-for-tat behaviour is common to contested relationships.”

Dr Lim Tai Wei, an adjunct senior research fellow with NUS’ East Asian Institute, said the spectre of a TikTok ban has been around since Donald Trump was US president.

“It will add on to the coterie of issues that are part of the decoupling, Cold War-like relations between the two superpowers,” he said. 

A TikTok ban will likely further advance the tech decoupling between the two countries, and could move the competition from semiconductor chips to the digital realm, Dr Lim added. 

Amid the decoupling, any move to ban TikTok also sends a signal of “you are either with China or the US”, said Asst Prof Ho.

Dr Chen said the US has accepted "asymmetrical" use of Chinese tech companies for many years now.

The present-day frostiness between US and China is what is facilitating the push for a TikTok ban, he added. 

“If the relationship is friendly, beneficial to both sides like what it was before, I do not think this kind of thing would happen."

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2023-03-24 11:40:23Z
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China says does not ask firms for foreign data as TikTok row grows - CNA

PROJECT TEXAS

A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off the country's 150 million monthly users from an app that has become a cultural powerhouse - especially for young people.

"TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned," committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said.

Supporters of TikTok and free speech activists criticised the hearing as political theatre and urged against an outright ban.

"Taking a bludgeon to TikTok, and by extension to Americans' First Amendment protections, is not the right solution to the risks that TikTok poses to the privacy of Americans and to the national security of the United States," said Nadine Farid Johnson of PEN America, which defends free speech.

And Beijing noted on Friday that "some in the US congress stated that seeking a ban of TikTok is a xenophobic political persecution".

TikTok still hopes to appease the authorities.

Chew's testimony promoted the company's elaborate plan - known as Project Texas - to satisfy national security concerns, under which the handling of US data will be ring-fenced into a US-run division.

But lawmakers poured doubts on the project, saying it would do nothing to remove their concerns that TikTok was vulnerable to China.
 

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2023-03-24 08:49:00Z
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Certis officer hit by car at Tuas Checkpoint, suffers severe head injury - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – An auxiliary police officer suffered severe head injury after he was hit by a car at Tuas Checkpoint in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Friday that it was alerted to the accident involving a Singapore-registered car at 12.55am.

“Preliminary investigations reveal the car driver was driving at a high speed before hitting the auxiliary police officer stationed outside the observation post at the entry of the departure car zone at Tuas Checkpoint,” it added.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force and Traffic Police were called to the scene immediately. The officer, who is employed by Certis, and the driver were taken to the National University Hospital.

ICA and Certis are in contact with the officer’s family to provide the necessary support. Police investigations are ongoing.

ICA said in a Facebook post at 3am that the accident had blocked all three lanes leading towards the departure car and motorbike zone at Tuas Checkpoint. It urged motorists to use the departure cargo lanes instead and to expect delays.

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2023-03-23 22:34:33Z
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